madnovel Chapter 2: Father, Yuan Jing's Strange Tales; One Fusion, and They All Died!
Chapter 2: Father, Yuan Jing's Strange Tales; One Fusion, and They All Died!
After the carriage passed through the East Water Gate and then traveled through the streets and alleys to arrive at the Ji residence, it was already noon.
Two burly warriors with swords stood guard beside the enormous mansion, and two imposing stone lions squatted at the entrance.
Hearing the noise, the door was suddenly pulled open.
"Young master, you brought the young lady back so quickly?" A petite girl wearing a light blue close-fitting woolen coat walked out.
She was also Ji Lin's maid.
This morning, the young lady was to set off for Hongshan County to marry into the Wang family, and the master asked the young master to escort her for a while. Unexpectedly, she returned so soon.
"Chun Die, where is my father?" Ji Lin immediately got off the carriage, gave the driver a wink, and then entered the Ji residence as if nothing had happened.
"The master is discussing matters with the magistrate in the study," Chun Die said.
Ji Lin then left Chun Die behind.
He had many questions at this moment.
But the answer will probably only be known after I see my father.
The Ji Mansion was not only magnificent like that of the Tang Dynasty emperors, but also very large, with sixteen courtyards and covering an area of over a thousand square meters.
Entering through the main gate, Ji Lin passed through several separate courtyards and walked around several covered corridors before finally reaching the outside of the study.
From afar, they could see the county magistrate talking to his father, and it seemed to be quite heated.
Ji Lin had no choice but to stand there and wait.
After a short while, the two finished their discussion in the study, and after the magistrate left, he went to the study.
"Lin'er, you brought your eldest sister back so quickly? Is something the matter?"
The study's three walls were lined with bookshelves filled with calligraphy and paintings. A refined middle-aged man, dressed in a white fox fur coat and a simple black robe, sat on a grand chair and began to speak.
Ji Lin strode forward, leaned close to his father's ear, and began to tell him about what had happened on his way back.
"This is outrageous! I suspect that Master Kou was poisoned by someone, or attacked by a martial artist skilled in poison techniques... What kind of demons, disasters, or strange occurrences are these? Our Great Qian Dynasty has been around for almost 300 years, how come we haven't seen any of them?" Ji Chang'an, the father, comforted his son.
"Don't be afraid or overthink it. Go to your room and rest for a while. You've been traveling all morning, you must be tired..."
Ji Chang'an waved his hand, signaling Ji Lin to go and rest.
After Ji left, he sighed deeply.
The magistrate has already discussed the matter of the Huai River and the current chaotic situation with him.
After all, Xiong'an County is a complex place with many powerful clans. As the most powerful clan in the area, their family's assets included martial arts, pawnshops, trading companies, security escort agencies, fish stalls, and other behemoths. Inevitably, the Ji family had in-depth exchanges with the government. As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt, and the Ji family even became friends with the county magistrate.
During his trip, the magistrate not only told him that they would form an alliance, accumulate strength, forge weapons and armor, train soldiers, build high walls and store up grain in this chaotic world, delay declaring themselves kings, establish their own territory, and observe the situation between the court and the rebel army.
As mentioned, regarding the unexplained flooding of the Huai River a dozen days ago that caused nearly ten thousand refugees, eyewitnesses said that beneath the floodwaters lurked enormous, rapidly devouring demons—definitely not a normally growing species...
Now, the world is not only in utter chaos, but he also has to deal with natural disasters, bandits, rebels, and some fleeing imperial troops.
The world seems strange now; those bizarre and monstrous creatures that once existed only in tales and anecdotes have suddenly appeared, making one feel as if they are in purgatory, unsure how to cope...
...
On the other hand, Ji Lin did not choose to return to his room to rest.
He rushed to the library.
The Ji family has a history of over a century, and they have amassed a considerable collection of books there.
It seems that the father was unaware of the chaos and turmoil that occurred at the end of the previous dynasty. He hoped to find some ancient books or related anecdotes in the library that recorded that period.
His father didn't take Kou Wencang's matter seriously, but he knew for sure that what the Taoist priest said wasn't false.
Upon arriving at the library, Ji Lin quickly searched for books containing records of the previous dynasty.
But perhaps because it happened nearly 300 years ago, or was from the previous dynasty, the current government is deliberately concealing, altering, and forbidding people from recording events from that era.
In the end, he only found one book, "Strange Tales of the Thirty Years of Yuan Jing".
It was a very old book, very thin, with only a few pages, and extremely yellowed, with some parts torn and altered, having wandered for who knows how many years.
[In the thirtieth year of the Yuanjing era, natural disasters occurred frequently, and strange phenomena appeared often, turning this place into a paradise for monsters. In various prefectures, counties, and districts, incidents of monsters eating people occurred frequently, and even entire villages and towns were slaughtered...]
I categorize these strange occurrences into three main types: demons, calamities, and the bizarre.
[Demons—like the monsters in novels, powerful and bloodthirsty, intelligent, and constantly growing, becoming more mature and closer to humans...]
[Calamity—possessing supernatural powers beyond reason, capable of influencing celestial phenomena...]
[Strange—lacking any intelligence, seemingly possessing a unique pattern of killing...]
Surprisingly, people seem to gain power from these strange creatures: demonic weapons, divine summoning of calamities, and treacherous drivers… but remember, these people can no longer be called human.
After carefully flipping through the book, Ji Lin managed to glean this information.
This book has so many fragments, corrections, and tears that there is very little useful information.
Too vague. Aside from demons, calamities, and the bizarre, it only provides some unique characteristics and information about people's methods of resisting the monsters and even ending that chaotic world of demons and monsters. It seems that the only information provided is the names...
Ji Lin put the book back in its place and got up to go to his room to study the foundation of his life.
Back in the room.
As soon as Ji Lin had a thought, the blood-red game template reappeared.
【Season Arrival】
[Outliers: 1]
【Strength: 6/10】
【Minyi：5/10】
[Constitution: 5/10]
[Spirit: 5/10]
Below that are ten small, blood-red squares, nine of which are dark, while only the first one is lit, containing "a drop of blood".
[Can be fused with one demon blood. Incomplete] A line of small text appeared on the lit square.
Obviously, that one point of abnormality can be used to increase one's own attributes, but looking at one's own attributes, 5 points is probably the normal level for an average person, so this one point won't increase much.
It's unclear whether this extreme value of 10 represents the upper limit for ordinary people or his own upper limit.
Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, so Ji Lin simply added it to agility.
Agility was increased from 6 to 7 points, and outliers were reduced to zero.
He felt a warm current flow through his body, and then his body seemed to become more fluid and light, and his leg muscles became stronger.
He seems to run faster, but the improvement isn't significant; he feels he can't even keep up with some martial artists who train regularly.
Even after finishing this task, a strong sense of unease still lingered over Ji Lin. He desperately needed strength, so he simply focused his attention on that drop of blood.
Driven by a thirst for power, he suddenly considered merging with it.
In the next instant, his body underwent a dramatic change...
Standing before the bronze mirror, Ji Lin was deeply shocked by his current physical state.
The boy in the bronze mirror was over two meters tall, with black hair flowing down his shoulders and black lines covering his body. His eyes were swallowed by darkness, making him look like a terrifying and fierce god.
He felt that his body was incredibly light, as if he could turn into a gust of wind with just a slight movement...
When he opened the template again, it had changed.
【Season Arrival】
[Outliers: 0]
【Strength: 6/10】
【Minyi：20/10】
[Constitution: 5/10]
[Spirit: 5/10]
His agility surged by a full 20 points, double the maximum.
After seeing the attributes, Ji Lin quickly tried to change back.
After all, it would be terrible if someone found him like this.
In the next lesson, he instantly returned to his original state, and the drop of blood returned to the first small square.
I was about to grind it some more when I suddenly heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats, as if something had happened.
Ji Lin went outside out of curiosity and saw an acquaintance running past in a hurry.
That was a maid who accompanied his eldest sister to the Wang family in Hongshan.
I just don't know why he suddenly ran back when he was supposed to go to the Wang family of Hongshan to continue serving his elder sister in the marriage alliance.
"What's wrong?" Ji Lin stopped him, only to find his face deathly pale and his expression panicked.
"Dead, all of them are dead, so many dead people...!"